Laserfiche WebLink
<br />The Federal Government has contributed greatly to the <br />massive increase in the number of dams in the United States. <br />Under legislation such as the Reclamation Act of 1902, the <br />1928 authorization of flood control for the Mississippi River <br />and tributaries, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 <br />and the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938, the United <br />States Government became the world's foremost builder and <br />owner of dams. The Federal dams constructed under those <br />authorizations were generally large, and included such well <br />known projects as Hoover Dam, Grand Coulee, Fort Peck, <br />Bonneville, Glen Canyon, Oahe, and other large dams in major <br />river basin development schemes such as those for the <br />Arkansas River, the Colorado River, the Columbian River, the <br />Missouri River, the Ohio River, the Tennessee River, and the <br />Central Valley of California. It is estimated that the <br />Federal Government now owns about 3,000 of the dams listed in <br />the National Inventory. At least 20 separate Federal <br />agencies have some responsibilities for dams and dam safety. <br /> <br />The activities of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of <br />the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the authorization of <br />the Soil Conservation Act of 1935, as well as other <br />legislation, have made the Federal government even more <br />responsible for dam building in the last half century. The <br />SCS furnishes technical and financial assistance to land <br />owners and project sponsors in building dams. It has been <br />estimated that more than 25,000 dams in the National <br />Inventory of Dams were built with SCS assistance. The SCS <br />neither owns nor has control over the dams for which it <br />provides assistance. One disturbing aspect of this program <br />is that many dams built with SCS assistance, either through <br />neglect by their owners or because of developments in the <br />downstream areas, in some cases present serious hazards to <br />public safety. <br /> <br />The United States has experienced a number of disastrous <br />dam failures in this century. The failure of the St. Francis <br />Dam in California in 1929 led to enactment of the first <br />legislation for strict State supervision of dams in <br />California in the interest of public safety. Subsequent dam <br />failures in many states have spurred legislation to similarly <br />regulate dams in most States in the Union. <br /> <br />A series of tragic dam failures within the last quarter <br />century has focused public and official attention on the <br />national problem with safety of dams. Three of these <br />failures were especially important in triggering actions to <br />do something about this serious national problem. The <br />failure in February 1972 of a coal mine waste impoundment at <br />Buffalo Creek, West Virginia -- with a loss of 125 lives and <br />massive property damages -- was largely responsible for the <br /> <br />Focus - page 4 <br />